The Beggining, Somewhere In The Middle
by Trufreak89
Summary: Frankie doesn't think Cat's girlfriend is good enough for her and she sets out to prove it to her.  Pre-Series 1


**A/N:** A short one shot about how Cat and Frankie got together. Wrote this around the end of the first series last year and just found it again, decided to finish it off and post it up.

"So, where's the wife?" Cat rolled her eyes as she stepped through the door and found Frankie sprawled across her sofa. The blonde lay with a copy of_ Take a Break _across her chest and a beer in her hand.  
"Working till nine." She replied as she shrugged her coat off and hung it up by the door.  
"I've got you all to myself till nine then?" Frankie teased, though they both heard the possessive tone in her voice.  
"All night actually." Cat collapsed on the sofa, sitting on top of Frankie's long legs.  
"Bloody hell Cat! I was going to offer to treat you to dinner, but Jesus-"

"Oi!" Cat playfully slapped her best friend's long legs as they wriggled underneath her. The blonde shifted so that she could sit down properly. She draped her legs over the other woman once she was settled.  
"So she's not coming over to see you after work then? Bit of a shit girlfriend isn't she?" Cat shot her a glare that told her to quit while she was ahead. "Good job I ordered out for dinner. Should be here in about twenty minutes. So you go get your hot little body in to the bath I ran you, and I'll open the bottle of white in the fridge."

Cat couldn't help the smile that spread over her lips. She suddenly understood why Frankie had told her to text her when she was leaving the office. "Oh my God, you're an angel." She leant forward to place a peck on the other girl's cheek. Frankie deliberately moved her head at the last minute so that they're lips pressed together. It was an old trick she had been pulling since she was fourteen and Cat laughed it off.  
"Behave you! And pour me a large glass will you? I've had a nightmare of a day. I think I need a new job."  
"And a new girlfriend." Frankie muttered under her breath as the older woman disappeared in to the bathroom.

Cat closed the door behind her before peeling off her clothes. The familiar scent of her honey and almond bubble bath assaulted her senses as she lowered herself in to the hot water. She was glad for the soak after the day she'd had. Work had been shit. Her boss had just informed her she'd be getting yet another pay cut. Top that off with three separate arguments with her supposed better half and it had been one of those days. She was glad to have Frankie in her life, even if her girlfriend Julie wasn't so happy about it. Most of their arguments seemed to be about the blonde.

"Room for a little one?" Cat's eyes snapped open as her best friend walked in to the bathroom, holding two glasses of wine.  
"With your arse-" Cat scoffed, giggling as Frankie threatened to tip the wine in to her bath. She splashed the younger girl, sending a tidal wave of bubbly water towards her.  
"Cheers." Frankie frowned as the water soaked through her hoodie. She carefully placed the two glasses on the edge of the bath and stripped down to her vest top. Cat picked up one of the glasses, pretending not to notice the strip of pale flesh between her vest and her boxers as she pulled the hoodie over her head. She knew she'd been caught when she looked up to see a self satisfied smirk on Frankie's lips. The blonde took her own glass and sat down beside the bathtub. "Are you gonna sit in there all night? You'll come out looking like an eighty year old...not attractive by the way."

"You're just jealous because you're not allowed in." Cat stuck out her tongue childishly. Frankie took it as a challenge.  
"Like I need your permission?" Her vest was over her head before Cat could open her mouth. The blonde's hands went to her belt, her nimble fingers unfastening the buckle and moving on to the buttons of her jeans. "Frankie!" Cat protested, finally finding her voice and sticking her feet up to block her if she actually tried to get in the bath. The doorbell rang out, stopping the blonde in her tracks.

"Saved by the bell." Frankie winked, quickly doing up her belt again and grabbing her top off the floor. "You better be out in five or I'm coming in!" She called out as she left to answer the front door. Cat took her warning seriously and pulled herself out of the tub, wrapping a large fluffy towel around herself. She slipped out of the bathroom and padded in to her bedroom. She heard Frankie banging around in her tiny kitchen. She'd been living in the one bedroom flat since uni and she was starting to outgrow it. Julie was talking about getting a bigger place, moving in together. Cat wasn't so sure. She threw on a pair of pyjama bottoms and a T-shirt and went to give Frankie a hand in the kitchen.

The blonde already had everything plated up and was sitting on the sofa flicking through the TV channels. Cat sat her glass of wine down on the coffee table and picked up her plate. They sat in a comfortable silence as they ate. Frankie cleared the plates away once they were done and brought the bottle of wine out of the kitchen to top up their glasses. "Trying to get me drunk?" Cat teased as Frankie filled her glass right to the top.  
"Always." The blonde replied with a grin. "You need something to get that stick out."  
"What stick?" The older woman frowned, not quite following their conversation.  
"The one that's been stuck up your arse since you started seeing that bitch." Frankie had never exactly hidden her dislike of Julie, but she had never been so open about it either.

"She's not so bad." Cat shrugged, taking an eager sip of her wine. "Not really." The younger woman scoffed beside her and shook her head.  
"She's not good enough Cat. Not for you." She shifted beside her, taking her glass out of her hand and setting it down on the table.  
"Oi! I was drinking that-" Frankie cut off her protests as she crushed their lips together. They had kissed before, many times over the years. A friendly kiss at Christmas and on birthdays. A drunken snog after a wild night out. This was different though. Somehow. More than just friendly. Cat found herself kissing back just as fiercely. Frankie's movements were desperate as she pulled Cat forward so that she was sitting in her lap. Her hands slipped under Cat's T-shirt, her fingers trailing against the still damp skin of her stomach and moving up to-

"Wait! Stop!" Cat pulled away and jumped to her feet. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She ran her hands through her hair; a nervous habit she'd always had.  
"Something I should have done a long time ago." Frankie lay back casually on the sofa, like nothing had just happened.  
"Frankie, I'm with Julie! You can't just kiss me like that. Jesus, I've spent the last three months telling her she's being paranoid for being jealous of you-"  
"You don't love her." It was a statement of fact, not a question. Cat felt her insides twisting. As usual her best friend could read her like an open book. "Do you love me?"

"Of course I do! How could you even ask me that?" Cat shook her head and looked towards the kitchen where their dirty dishes were undoubtedly sitting on the bench. "I better wash up." She needed an excuse to get away from the younger woman. Needed to clear her head and to stop thinking about the blonde's lips; or her hands. Frankie sat up, her expression anything but casual as she followed Cat in to the kitchen and caught hold of her wrists.

Cat found herself pinned between the sink and Frankie's body. She could think of worse places to be. "Not like that. Not as friends. I am in love with you Cat. Mad, passionate, all fucking consuming love. I can't get you out of my head and I'm sick of watching you waste your life with someone who doesn't deserve you! I'm sick of sharing you, and I need to know...Do you love her?"

Cat shook her head, quietly absorbing the other girl's words. "Do you love me?" Frankie pushed, waiting expectantly for an answer. Cat opened her mouth but no sound came out. She closed it again and slowly nodded. She had fought her attraction to the younger woman for years. Frankie was her best friend and there was a line they were not supposed to cross. Yet Frankie had just taken a running jump across it. Cat's arms instinctively wrapped around her neck, bringing their faces only inches apart. She stared at the other woman, waiting for her to make a move. Frankie's lips edged closer, stopping a hair's breath away from her own.  
"Tell me you love me."

Her voice was deep and husky. It sent shivers straight to her core. "I love you." The words were ripped from her throat as Frankie's lips found the pulse point in her neck. "Fuck…Frankie…I love you." She whimpered as the blonde's hands trailed under her T-shirt and brushed against the underside of her breasts. That was all the encouragement Frankie needed before she took her by the hand and started leading her towards her bedroom. Cat dragged her feet as she nervously chewed on her bottom lip.

"Frankie wait…I don't know if this is a good idea." She sighed as she pulled her hand out of the other girl's grasp and ran it through her hair. Frankie's hands cradled her cheeks as she stared her straight in the eyes, willing her to trust her.  
"Cat, I might be a fuck up, but I would never ever do anything to hurt you. I swear."  
"I know." Cat turned her head to kiss Frankie's palm. Every rational part of her brain was screaming at her to stop before they crossed a line they couldn't step back from. They were risking years of friendship and the thought of losing what they had terrified her; but then the thought of how much _more_ theycouldhave sent thrills running through her as Frankie kissed her again. Ignoring her head for once in her life Cat took a risk and kissed her back.  
"I just don't want to screw this up."

A confident grin returned to Frankie's lips as she took hold of Cat's hand and started for the bedroom again. "We won't." She had waited years for her chance with Cat, she wasn't going to mess it up.


End file.
